News Impact Summit Stockholm

Hard Journalism: Reporting Crisis, Staying Secure and Tackling Data

In recent months, journalists have reported on various crises of political, social and natural nature, culminating in the Paris attacks just several weeks ago. A focus on data and the visualisation of information can be used to tell better stories and provide audiences with the content and context they would be looking for when interested in such complex, yet important stories. On Tuesday 24 November, 150+ reporters, editors and developers met in Stockholm, for another News Impact Summit (#NISSTO), organised by the European Journalism Centre and the Google News Lab. A whopping 23 speakers joined the various panels, chats and talks:

All of these speakers have expertise in innovation and immersive storytelling. They joined us to discuss topics like: How can the refugee crisis and similarly sensitive and complex issues be covered using data/infographics, live streaming and other (new) digital tools? How can we digitally secure our journalistic work and our sources when dealing with delicate stories? How should we measure the "impact" of our storytelling using data and analytics?And finally, catering toward our Stockholm crowd, what are the new tools developed by Swedish start-ups that media can benefit from to set up a better workflow, content management and publishing?

On Monday 23 November, the News Impact Summit was preceded by Google Session at the Epicenter start-up incubator space in Stockholm. In the panel session, several speakers discussed their digital coverage of the refugee crisis and the terror attacks in Paris. A quick impression:

Joanson cautioned the attendees to remember that even in this changed media ecosystem, in which audiences have a lot of choice in terms of content and form, journalists will still have to ensure that their core business remains the same:

The Chairman was followed up Matt Cooke (@mattcooke_uk), European Lead at the Google News Lab, who introduced this new venture's aims. The organisation wants to redefine the well-known Google tools for reporters' daily use, through newsroom training and a recently launched innovation fund.